The FCV, as it is called, builds on the oddball styling language first applied to the 2011 FCV-R concept, melding the now-defunct Lexus HS250h hybrid’s tall and narrow look with a front intake treatment that can best be described as “oversized.” At least Toyota binned the FCV-R’s weird, moustache-like front-end design. Stuffed into each of the outer intakes are equally enormous amber turn indicator/running lights that are nearly invisible when not illuminated. The hood seems to float above the rest of the body, thanks to the continuation of the ultra-thin grille opening around to the A-pillars, and the flowing rear fender flares are Toyota’s way of visually expressing the fuel-cell car’s only by-product, water.

We still think the FCV looks a bit odd, and not even in a unique way like the Prius, whose rolling tadpole design is by now almost iconic. Size-wise, the concept car is slightly larger than a Corolla, measuring 191.7 inches long, 71.3 inches wide, 60.4 inches tall, and 109.4 inches between its axles. That translates to 9.1 inches longer, 1.4 inches wider, and 3.1 inches taller than the Corolla, and the FCV’s wheelbase stretches another 3.1 inches. Part of the reason for the FCV’s tallness is packaging: Hydrogen cars need to carry a lot of gear, including a hydrogen fuel tank, the fuel-cell stacks that convert the hydrogen to electricity, and an electric motor for propulsion. Toyota placed the fuel-cell stacks underneath the front seats, the main hydrogen tank under the rears, and even shoehorned a second fuel tank into the lower trunk area.

As a result of Toyota’s hodgepodge packaging efforts, the FCV is strictly a four-seater, and appears to have a rather tall floor. It is worth pointing out that Honda’s FCEV concept, which it revealed this week in L.A., manages to fit its hydrogen powertrain hardware at each end of the car, leaving an open passenger cell. (The fuel-cell stacks have been compacted enough to fit up front with the drive motor, while the fuel tank lives under the trunk.) The Honda also looks about a million times more interesting than this Toyota, although that could change when the FCEV makes the jump to production next year.

Toyota claims that it has at least improved the FCV’s space-hogging fuel-cell stack, boosting the unit’s power density to more than twice that of its outgoing stack. Total power output is around 100 kW, or about the same as Honda says its FCEV is good for; total driving range is estimated to be roughly 435 miles, according to Japan’s optimistic JC08 fuel-economy testing procedures, and the FCV is capable of 106 mph. We’ve been told to expect the FCV to hold about 12 pounds of hydrogen fuel, and the electric motor should put out about 135 horsepower.

Regardless, the FCV, like the other hydrogen vehicles soon coming to market, will be relegated to niche-player status before it’s born. Even in California—a hydrogen early-adopter state—filling stations are few and far between, and mostly clustered in the L.A. metro area. That limits the customer base for cars such as the FCV. The tech is neat, and it’s hard to argue with the whole “water as a by-product” deal, but infrastructure needs to catch up—and costs will need to go down—before these cars can escape the bounds of ultra-limited production.

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